


Eclipse

by PerennialFall



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Alternate Canon, Angst, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Female Characters, Healing, Memories, Memory Magic, Mind Meld, One Shot, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22369831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerennialFall/pseuds/PerennialFall
Summary: When the light from Midna touches Zelda's heart, something inexplicable happens. A torrent of memories rushes between them, unearthing their darkest moments before the war.
Relationships: Midna & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Midna/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 26





	Eclipse

**Author's Note:**

> AN: This started out as an opening for something else but the tone took quite a shift, so now it'll just be a standalone. :)

**Eclipse  
**  
A storm howls in the distance.  
  
Zelda is vaguely aware of it. It blows coldly into the tower, blotting the light from the sun, sweeping against the skin on her arms. There's no rain in the clouds but she detects wisps of smoke in the atmosphere. She knows she should be alarmed but her heart beats slowly in spite of the danger.  
  
There's something unpleasant burning through her veins. Ever since it came, the nightmares haven't stopped... and now a dream she can scarcely handle is pulled over her eyes. She fights again to open them but she cannot do it to save her life. Her arms are not her own and she feels them striking against some unseen force, her strings pulled by some abyssal power.  
  
Link's shout echoes in the chamber.  
  
Her mind wanders and she realises that this is how it must feel to sit upon the ocean floor. The promise of something brighter flickers from above, taunting her beyond reach. She longs to rise to the surface and touch it. She visualises the outline of her hands - the way they move as she commands them, as she raises them, defiant against her master. But the chains have been there too long. And her lungs are crushed by the weight of the sea.  
  
Suddenly, there's a flood.  
  
The waves begin to crash against her, filling her airways so that they might drown the poison within. She struggles against it instinctively - unable to breathe, unable to cry for help. Just as she thinks she can't take any more, the power fuelling her body crumbles away. The burning reaches a boiling point before it fractures and she feels her sickness scattering in the air around her.  
  
She exhales. And then, a light cuts through the gale. It shines beyond the curtain separating her from the world, filling the void where her body aches. The second she thinks she might reach out and touch it, the light draws near and rains over her skin. Its warmth chases through her veins, healing every trace of the blight. Tears of relief well in her eyes as she goes to open them... and in that moment, whirlwind of new memories tears through her mind.  
  
Zelda looks to her hands.  
  
They're small and youthful, the colour of ash.  
  
She cries into them as the fragments of her parents are returned to the shadows. The city is gathered below the tower, holding orbs of green light in vigil. Earlier days spent chasing through the castle corridors and playing pranks on doting servants flash before her mind, before they're erased in a dull and insurmountable tide of grief. The crown sits heavy upon her head but she resists the urge to throw it against the wall.  
  
She grows clever at manipulating energy and does so frequently, before the discerning eyes of the court. It seems to placate them. Though, their whispers carry on the wind from behind outstretched hands. Words conveying her youth and inexperience reach her ears but not one of them speaks against her power. She grins and wears it like a badge of pride.  
  
A shadow of a man lurks in the background. An annoying, blithering presence that doesn't notice when she recoils and turns away at every opportunity. She knows he's a problem but he hasn't done anything to warrant a loss of station. For so long as he's useful, she will keep him around. The leash tightens.  
  
She's never felt scared in her own palace until her door bursts open to a hall of corrupted guards. She screams at them to stand down, holding back the power in her hands, refusing to murder her people when their minds are not their own. As quickly as they appear, they're cast aside when another figure steps into the room. He hides his face but his voice is familiar. His _ambition_ is familiar.  
  
He whispers into her ear. And then, her eyes widen and her skin grows cold. She can't let him have what he wants and she would sooner die than let it happen. She raises her hand in defiance. There's pleasure in the energy as she commands it, bending it to her will as the rightful ruler. It forms into a blade and she knows exactly where she wants to send it.  
  
But with a mere wave of his hand...  
  
she falls...  
  
and her beauty shatters.  
  
She hears herself scream for the first time since the passing of her parents. He stands over her in silence, watching her as she unravels. Her fingers are tiny and she stares at them in disbelief. She feels powerless. Broken. She glares back at him, refusing to beg. He says that this will teach her to see reason but she cannot rise to smack the words from his mouth.   
  
It hurts. Goddesses, it hurts so much.  
  
She struggles to stand in her new and weakened form, and calls upon the waves of magic that reside in her body to lift her up. If she is to die today, then she refuses to do so on her knees. The guards are advancing now, following orders to throw her in the dungeon before she snaps her fingers and disappears.  
  
When her stomach growls, it's the most normal feeling in her strange body. She knows she will starve in these woods for as long as she stays hidden. But how can she face them? What choice does she have but to hide in the dark? Her tears fall into a river and shatter the surface of her reflection. She feels as alone as she's always been. And soon, she knows well the sound of her screams.  
  
Midna blinks once.  
  
She kicks her feet beneath the classroom chair, her hair screaming against the uncomfortable braid it's pulled into. Her teacher frowns and snaps his fingers, correcting her posture. 'It won't do for a princess,' she's told. Hours stretch into weeks of monotony. She's praised for her ability to follow the book but her other questions are chastised and deflected. She rips the ties from her hair every sundown, skipping stones in the pond to vent her frustration.  
  
Her questions escape at the dinner table and she sees her teacher walk out the next day. She must _wait_ until she's queen, she is told.  
  
The funeral passes and she returns to her room dressed in black, the colour of shadows. For a while, she sits and combs her memories but all she can find of her parents are slivers of their faces. The king's hand squeezes onto her shoulder as the ballroom fills with guests. 'It will be alright,' he murmurs out of earshot. The prophecy is not due in their lifetime. And they've worked hard to ensure Hyrule has no enemies to speak of.  
  
She searches the castle archives for the answers they won't give. War. Corruption. Monsters. A bloody history, tied to her very existence. She almost spills the candles in her haste to get away. She is just a child, the servants whisper. And children are powerless in the face of curses. Her teacher's frown haunts her as she lies in the dark of her room. From that day on, she picks up a sword.  
  
Her breath comes out in jagged bursts as she climbs off the floor. A white-haired man with an eye carved into the chest of his armour chastises her, with a smile. 'We must keep going,' he says. A shadow does not tire. A shadow does not stop. It doesn't hunger or mourn or feel the cold. It stands strong in the sun and waits in the night. It weaves the darkness around it into a cloak of protection.  
  
The crown sits gently upon her head. And she holds it high, refusing to let even a hair fall out of place.  
  
Hyrule bends the knee.  
  
A shroud blots out the sun when the servants of death come. They crawl toward her on elongated limbs, claws smattered with blood. Their faces are alien and indiscernible... like nothing she's read of in any book. Though she's surrounded by the best of her guards, her heart races inside of her chest. She holds her composure for as long as she can but eventually, shock takes over her fear. A deafening silence follows the screaming in the hall.  
  
Once they're done with her subjects, a man strides into the room.  
  
"Life? Or death?" he snarls.  
  
She hesitates.  
  
All the while, she hears a man writhing and gasping at her side. Another lies upon the floor some distance away, gurgling from his lungs. Blood leaks from the guard's helmet and she watches as it flows into the notches of the tiles. There's a town of civilians outside and an entire country rests on her shoulders. Death cannot be her legacy to them.  
  
Her sword clatters against the floor. Though she can't see his face, she hears the smile in his words.  
  
The world passes around her as she sits in her tower. She breathes in slow, watching as the light falls away from her world and an unforgiving twilight takes its place. Suddenly, she feels as though she's back in her classroom. Trapped in an endless day. Her youth burns before her eyes and she scolds herself for being so foolish. Though she has nowhere to run, she can't stand to sit still for much longer. But a shadow does not tire. It does not mourn. And it cannot die from hunger or sorrow. She pulls her cloak over herself and waits in the night for the dawn to come.  
  
Zelda's eyes open.  
  
The first thing she sees is Midna standing in front of her. Her lips part in surprise and her eyes stare back, wide and blinking. There's a moment of hesitation before she withdraws under her gaze. Terrified. Ashamed. Link studies her reaction and frowns. He's never seen this before. Nobody has.  
  
Her voice wavers. "P-Princess... I... I..."  
  
She never intended for this to happen.  
  
It's as though she can feel some of Midna's thoughts before she stays the fear in them. A second heartbeat thuds gently in her ears, slowing with every breath. She soon realises that she has as little control over it as the other and does not fight it. How can she? Instead, she smiles softly.  
  
"Say nothing, Midna... Your heart and mine were as one, however briefly." She traces the imprint of her memories in her mind. There are fathomless depths and painful cracks through which she could fall and never be found again. But there's beauty in the chaos. There's warmth in her heart, touched by the light itself. "Such suffering you have endured."  
  
Midna's lip trembles. She closes her eyes and swallows her sadness, like shards of broken glass. It was easier alone, she tells herself. Nobody should know. Nobody has the right to know. She has worked tirelessly in the shadows to spare her people those same horrors. And yet...  
  
"Zelda... w-what you saw... I... I'm..."  
  
Link pats her gently on the shoulder, unable to form the words to help. She mirrors his silence but then she feels a hand reaching for hers. Zelda kneels in front of her, commanding her gaze as she speaks. There's a fire in her eyes and she longs with all of her soul to catch it. "You are Midna, Princess of the Twili. And I have waited long enough. We will fight to take your Kingdom back."  
  
Her fear burns away in a single breath. 


End file.
